John Matisonn
{{Short description|South African political journalist and author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use South African English|date=August 2016}}
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| birth_place = Johannesburg, South Africa
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| alma_mater = University of Witwatersrand
University of Chicago
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John Matisonn is a South African political journalist and author. He was one of the founding councillors of South Africa's Independent Broadcasting Authority and from 1986 to 1991 was the South Africa correspondent for National Public Radio in the United States.{{cite book|last=Horwitz |first=Robert B. |year=2001 |title=Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa |url=https://archive.org/details/communicationdem00horw_037 |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/communicationdem00horw_037/page/n167 147] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139428699}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1107627 |title=South African journalist JOHN MATISONN |publisher=NPR |date= |accessdate=2015-11-30}}
Career
=Early career, imprisonment=
Matisonn grew up in the suburbs in Johannesburg and began his career as a political journalist on the Rand Daily Mail.{{cite news|url=http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Whos-who-on-day-two-of-the-SABC-board-interviews-20150429 |title=Who's who on day two of the SABC board interviews |newspaper=City Press |publisher=News24 |date=2013-08-21 |accessdate=2015-11-30}} In 1979, when South Africa was under the Apartheid regime, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail for refusing to reveal his sources for an article which led to exposure of the Muldergate Scandal. He resigned as president of the Southern African Society of Journalists and left for the United States where he became the Washington correspondent for six South African newspapers.{{cite news|first=Dianne |last=Klein |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/04/28/John-Matisonn-a-South-African-journalist-sentenced-to-jail/7564357278400/ |title=John Matisonn, a South African journalist sentenced to jail... - UPI Archives |publisher=Upi.com |date=1981-04-28 |accessdate=2015-11-30}}{{cite web|title = John Matisonn - The Arab Revolution Of 2011 @ The Commodore Hotel|url = http://www.capetownpc.org.za/events/john-matisonn-the-arab-revolution-of-2011-the-commodore-hotel/|website = Cape Town Press Club|accessdate = 2015-10-02}} Matisonn was given a presidential pardon by President P W Botha on the day he was to fly back from Washington to South Africa to serve his sentence.{{cite news|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200608020234.html |title=South Africa: Making the Most of the Media |newspaper=Business Day |date=2006-08-02 |accessdate=2015-11-30}} (subscription required)
=Post-apartheid=
At the dawn of South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, he was the Executive Editor for Elections at the national broadcaster, SABC Radio.{{cite web|title = Who's who on day two of the SABC board interviews|url = http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Whos-who-on-day-two-of-the-SABC-board-interviews-20150429|accessdate = 2015-10-02|date = 21 August 2013}} He co-founded the PBI, Public Broadcasting Initiative, a South African think-tank and training centre for public broadcasting, to train and recruit South African journalists for the SABC to teach them about balance and fairness in the media.{{cite web|title = South African journalist JOHN MATISONN| website=NPR.org |url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1107627|accessdate = 2015-10-02}}
Matisonn chaired the founding meeting Free, Fair and Open, South Africa in the Transition to Democracy (1992) whose resolutions were adopted by CODESA.{{cite web|title = African Business Environment {{!}} Business Magazine|url = http://africabusiness.com/2013/08/21/who%25E2%2580%2599s-who-on-day-two-of-the-sabc-board-interviews/|accessdate = 2015-10-02}}
From 2002 to 2004 Matisonn helped launch and run the South African edition of THISDAY newspaper in the post of editorial director.{{cite web|title = Independent Online|url = http://beta.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/matisonn-moves-on-from-thisday-214371|website = beta.iol.co.za|accessdate = 2015-10-02}}{{cite web | url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/matisonn-leaves-this-day-1.214266#.VknMr7crKUk | title=Matisonn leaves This Day | publisher=IOL News | date=3 June 2004 | accessdate=16 November 2015 | author=SAPA}}
He was sent by the United Nations to be the Chairperson of the Electoral Media Commission in Afghanistan in 2005,{{Cite news|title = How the west failed Afghan democracy|url = http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e48e32d6-fe53-11df-abac-00144feab49a.html#axzz3nK2LsoAn|newspaper = Financial Times|date = 2010-12-03|access-date = 2015-10-02|issn = 0307-1766|first = John|last = Matisonn}} returning to the country to work for the UN as until 2010 in more senior roles.{{cite web | url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-matisonn-a404a06 | title=John Matisonn | publisher=LinkedIn | accessdate=16 November 2015}}
Matisonn released a book God, Spies and Lies, Finding South Africa's future through its past in November 2015. The book contains many revelations about how South Africa finds itself in its current political predicament based on never before documented discussions with important role players, in the fight against white minority rule.{{cite web|title = Insider's look at the making of SA - Sunday Independent|url = http://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/insider-s-look-at-the-making-of-sa-1.1952120#.VlwtM3YrLIU|website = Independent Online|accessdate = 2015-11-30}} The book names Tertius Myburgh a former editor of The Sunday Times for the first time as an apartheid agent.{{cite web|title = Top editor 'was an apartheid spy' - South Africa {{!}} IOL News|url = http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/top-editor-was-an-apartheid-spy-1.1952183|website = Independent Online|accessdate = 2015-11-30}}
Matisonn broke the story of how South African experts through then President Thabo Mbeki told George Bush and Tony Blair that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in February 2003.
Awards and fellowships
In 1991 Matisonn and Ira Glass, host of This American Life, were jointly awarded by the National Association of Black Journalists for their four-part series comparing race relations in South Africa with those in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://www.kcrw.com/people/ira-glass |title=PROFILE - IRA GLASS HOST/PRODUCER |publisher=Kcrw.com |date= |accessdate=2015-11-30}} Matisonn was a William F. Benton Fellow in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Chicago in 1992.{{cite web | url=http://www.iec.org.af/jemb.org/media_commission/composition.html | title=John Matisonn, Chairman | publisher=Media Commission: Afghanistan - United Nations | accessdate=16 November 2015}}
References
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Category:South African newspaper journalists
Category:South African male journalists
Category:University of the Witwatersrand alumni
Category:South African newspaper editors